The above documentary and related research materials at the National Geographic Society's website should shed some light on the most wonderful and beautiful religion of Vodou as well as assist with dispelling myths and misconceptions spread via those folks who are purely ignorant, spiritually myopic, religiously intolerant, and simply do not value the great diversity of all religions, thealogies, theologies, spiritual paths, and theosophies as we do so--as a core competency / foundation of our diverse Alternative Religions and Spiritualities (ARS) belief systems.

Monday, November 12, 2007

HERBAL MEDICATION.
SHOWING THE PLANETARY AND CLIMATIC INFLUENCE UPON THE HERBAL KINGDOM.

“IN the foregoing pages, we have seen, that from the earliest period in the history of the human race, to the present time, the administration of the juices and essences of Herbs and Plants, in all forms of disease, has ever been considered by judicious and philosophical minds, as the most rational and natural means of relieving the organism of all abnormal obstructions and derangements, and restoring all the functions to their original or primitive vigor and healthful working. Notwithstanding the innovations of the mineral practice, I have ever held most rigidly to the Herbal System of medication, but having failed to meet with the success reasonably anticipated by pursuing the ordinary routine of Therapeutics, I was finally led to reject the many changes in medical doctrines and practice, and start forth on a path of investigation of my own, into the mysteries of the mineral and vegetable Kingdoms, especially as they might bear open the health and happiness of the human being; accordingly, I set out on extensive travels in nearly all parts of the globe in all latitudes, at all seasons, and la all climes—in search of the best specific means for the healing of the maladies of mankind. The results of these researches, since confirmed by many years successful medical experience based upon them, hare bat the more strongly strengthened my opposition to the use of all the mineral preparations of the modern schools of medicine, and to establish my faith all the more firmly in the employment of HERBAL elements exclusively—whether in the materia of roots, barks, seeds, or flowers—as the surest and safest means for the thorough eradication of every form of disease incident to the human body.

In saying all this, however, I do not deny the fact that many mineral substances enter into the composition of the human being, and are necessary for his fall health and perfection—as chalk or lime is requisite to form bone, iron to enrich or strength, en the blood, and other mineral substances for the formation of the tissues, as phosphorus for the tissues of the brain and nerves, etc,—but I stoutly contend that all such inorganic substances are taken up by plants and distributed to the various tissues and elements of the human being, either in the way of food or medicine, in exactly the precise quantity requisite for man's perfect health, if rightly used, neither in excess nor diminution, agreeably to the laws of nature: and their virtues are thus prepared and eliminated in a way far superior to any chemical manipulation ever conceived or known to man, with all the elements of chemical science at his command.

Having philosophized, and finally realized that the entire Universe was composed of contrary elements—of negative and positive principles—yet that the whole worked, or acted, in the most perfect harmony, agreeably to the wisdom of a Great First Cause, when such elements were not disarranged or disturbed by any violation of the laws of pristine Nature, I was soon led to a logical deduction of the general laws which govern the virtues or medicinal properties of ail the varieties of plants, with a view to employ them as remedial agents in the core of disease. In a word, I found in the being, MAN, an epitome of till creation—found in his organism all the elements of universal nature—and necessarily discerned, that, as there are Summer and Winter, night and day, in regular and systematic succession, such alternations of nature could not but hare the most important influences in respect to the health and diseases of the human being—Heaven's last, most perfect work. I realized that in accordance with the various operations of nature, man remained in health, or became afflicted with disease. Hence, it became necessary for me to fully understand or comprehend the cause of any departure from the normal or natural condition of man, and to provide the care, or the remedy best adapted for the restoration of the equilibrium of the functions of his entire organism.

The admirable harmony of creation, as seen in the revolutions of the planets, showed how one part of the universe was subservient to, or dependent upon another part of creation; and this being the fact, it was easy to comprehend that the Planetary System, had certain peculiar, fixed influences, not only upon herbs, but, through their qualities as food or medicine, upon the body of man.

No man of sense will deny that the Moon has a certain influence over the waters of the Earth—causing the ebb and flow of tides—nor will it be questioned among practical agriculturalists, at least, that the Moon has some special or potent power, in the success or failure of crops, etc.

If such be the truth, as it undoubtedly Is, in regard to the influence of the Moon upon the aqueous and herbal, or vegetable organisms, it is not at all unreasonable to suppose that every star and every planet has some governing action over the actions, temperaments, idiosyncrasies, health and disease of the human being, through the medium of the plants which supply him the very best of healing medicines.

The physicians of the olden time—including Esculapius, Hippocrates, Galen, etc.—of Arabia, Greece and Rome, as well as many sages and learned men of more modern times, as Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, and others, all believed in what was originally called ‘ASTRAL Physic’; and contended that the anatomy of the human body was governed by the twelve constellations. In other words, they believed that the planet Aries or ram, presided over the head and face of man; Taurus or the bull, over the neck; Gemma, or the twins, over the arms; Cancer or crab fish, over the breast; Leo, or the lion, over the heart; Virgo or virgin, over the bowels; Libra or the balance, over the reins or loins; Scorpio or scorpion, over the secrets; Sagittarius or bowman, over the thighs; Aquarius or waterman, over the legs; Capricorn or goat, over the knees; and Pisces or the fishes, over the feet.

Candid and reflecting minds must admit the truth of these notions of the ancients, while the lights of modern science folly sap-port the hypothesis of planetary influences upon the human organism, inducing Rheumatism, Neuralgia, and other nervous and muscular diseases, as well as visceral derangements, according as electrical, atmospherical, or other phenomena are concomitants of, or governed by, sidereal or meteorological conditions of our globe, in its revolutions in universal space, or amid the illimitable range of the starry hosts and planets. Indeed, in many scientific, works, we find engravings representing the planets ruling over the various members of the body of man, while these emblems or signs continue to be used, as designating the proper time to plant seed and reap the harvests, etc., among the yeomanry of all lands.

That there are planetary influences prevailing over all of the Herbal Kingdom, cannot be questioned. It is this same planetary or atmospheric influence which occasions the closing of the leaves over the extreme point of the young shoot at night, as may be observed in the chick-weed, and several other common plants. The folding of some flowers in the absence of the sun, and the opening of others as soon as that luminary has withdrawn his beams, are ascribable to a similar cause. The white marygold closes its flowers on the approach of rain, and the dwarf Colendrina folds up its bright crimson corolla about four o'clock every afternoon ; while, on the contrary, the plant commonly called Four o'clock, whose flower remains closed all day, opens precisely at the hour of four. The evening Primrose will not open its large yellow flower till the son has sunk below the horizon. On the other band, the Sun-flower is always seen bending its face (vis-à-vis) in the direction of the sun, and follows its course during the entire diurnal round, from its rise in the Orient, or East, in the morning, to its decline in the Hesperian region, or West, in the evening. The Night-blowing Cereus only expands its flowers about midnight. Indeed, some flowers are so regular in their opening or shutting, that the great Botanist, LINNAEUS, formed what he called ‘Florets Time Piece’, in which each hour was represented by the flower which opened or closed at that particular time. Thus, trago fogon prateus opens from three to five; papaver medicaule, at five; hypochaetis maculata, at six; nymphoea, at seven; anagollis avernis, at eight; calendula avernes, at nine; areuaria, nine to ten; and mesembry anthemum, at eleven. Solar light is no doubt the principal cause in producing these phenomena; yet the influence of other planets are perhaps more potent in their direct influence. Beside the cases in which flowers open and shut their corollas by the influence of light, instances are known in which merely the petals roll up by day, and resume their natural shape after sunset. A remarkable circumstance respecting the effect of atmospheric influence, is, that the same causes do not affect all plants, and yet no peculiarity of construction has been discovered in those so affected to distinguish them from those that are not. This simple fact alone is sufficient to prove that there is not a plant or tree growing on earth that is not in more or less degree, under the influence or government of some especial Planet, Star, or Constellation, or some sign of the Zodiac.

The sleep of plants, a very remarkable phenomena, must be due to planetary influences. Even the irritability of many of them can be readily traced to the same cause by a rational mind.”

Reference

Brown, O. Phelps. The Complete Herbalist Or the People Their Own Physicians by the Use of Nature's Remedies: Describing the Great Curative Properties Found in the Herbal Kingdom. Jersey City, N.J.: The author, 1875. 10-15.